The conference, co-sponsored by McGill University, the Management Science Research Center at the Desautels Faculty of Management, the Group for Research in Decision Analysis (GERAD), a multi-university research center located in Montreal, and the Boeing Center on Technology, Information and Manufacturing (BCTIM) at Washington University in St. Louis, was intended to facilitate and stimulate interactions and knowledge sharing on important issues of risk management in global supply chains. The conference extended beyond stimulating research presentations to constructively challenge current practices and research paradigms, and, with a single track, offered the opportunity for productive interactions among speakers and conference participants.

The paper, coauthored with Anna Nagurney of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, develops a tractable network model and computational approach for the design and redesign of medical nuclear supply chains focusing on the supply chain of the most commonly used radioisotope for medical imaging utilized in cardiac and cancer diagnostics. The generalized network model, which derives formulae for the arc and path multipliers that capture the underlying physics of radioisotope decay, is a multiple criteria system-optimization model that includes total cost minimization, the minimization of cost associated with nuclear waste discarding, and also risk management, coupled with investment (or disinvestment) costs. Its solution yields the optimal link investments as well as the optimal product flows so that demand at the medical facilities is satisfied. It's framework provides the foundation for further empirical research and the basis for the modeling and analysis of supply chain networks for other very time-sensitive medical products.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Ivana Milanovic, associate professor of mechanical engineering, CETA, was invited to present her work, done in collaboration with Dr. Khairul Zaman, at NASA Glenn Research Center Inlet and Nozzle Branch (RTE) meeting in August 2011 in Cleveland, Ohio. The title of the presentation was "Effect of Artificial Perturbation on Unsteady Wake Vortices in Jets in Cross-Flow." The artificial perturbation with oscillating tabs resulted in periodic organization of the flow. Detailed surveys were conducted with x-wires to provide time- and phase-averaged properties of the flow field.

Tom Filburn and Cy Yavuzturk recently received $121,560 of funding from the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The two Mechanical Engineering department faculty will develop a sub-scale, operating, electrically powered see-through reactor and several computer models of a pressurized water nuclear reactor. These models will be used to train students in the design and operation of nuclear power plants. The grant runs through August 2012 and will fund one graduate and one undergraduate student worker. The grant will allow CETA to strengthen its course offerings in the nuclear power area.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

History) and Amy Ross (NASA Space Suit Engineer) in front of several Apollo era Space Suits at the NASA Johnson Space Center.Professor Robinson and Professor Tom Filburn (CETA, Mechanical Engineer, camera shy) just completed a set of talks with NASA engineering staff to support an upcoming course offering, AUCX 190 Life on the edge, living in Extreme Environments.This new course will examine the human response to extreme environments including Arctic and NASA exploration programs.The course will be offered in Spring 2012.

Monday, August 1, 2011

Ivana Milanovic, associate professor of mechanical engineering, CETA, published two research papers at the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) – the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers (JSME) – the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers (KSME) Joint Fluids Engineering Conference this month in Hamamatsu, Japan.

The objective of the conference is to provide a forum for the exchange of information related to fluids engineering for engineers from around the world. The conference addresses a broad range of topics in analysis, numerical methods, and experiments in the area of fluid mechanics.

The research paper, ‘Wake Vortices in Jets in Cross-Flow,’ was coauthored with Dr. Khairul Zaman and Dr. Timothy Bencic of NASA Glenn Research Center. Unsteady wake vortices of JICF were investigated in order to (a) explore the effect of various excitation techniques, their parametric dependence, and impact on the flow field, and (b) provide detailed flow visualizations.

The research paper, ‘Effect of Reynolds Number on the Turbulent Flow Structure in the Near-Wall Region of an Impinging Round Jet,’ was coauthored with Dr. Khaled Hammad of Dantec Dynamics. Time-resolved particle image velocimetry and proper orthogonal decomposition analysis were used to study the effect of Reynolds number on a submerged water jet impinging normally on a flat surface.

Milanovic also coorganized the 9th Symposium on Fundamental Issues and Perspectives in Fluid Mechanics and the 4th Symposium on the Transport Phenomena in Mixing.